The Montgomery County Council voted unanimously in favor of a major street safety bill on Tuesday. The legislation aims to reduce pedestrian and cyclist deaths with a few key infrastructure and signage changes.
The Safe Streets Act will:
- require an infrastructure review of pedestrian collisions in school zones
- prohibit right turns on a red light at certain busy intersections
- add more time for people to use crosswalks
- increase automated traffic enforcement by adding more speed cameras.
“We’re in the middle of September, and we’ve already had 392 pedestrians and cyclists hit on our roadways, and tragically, 10 people have been killed. We have to make our roadways safer for everybody,” Montgomery County Council President Evan Glass said.
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The bill has been in the works since February, and Glass said he thinks these small changes can make a big difference.
“Sixty percent of all crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists occur at intersections. We need to take a look at where most of the problems are and address them head on. That’s what we’re doing in this legislation,” he said.
And residents may not have to wait long. Glass said some changes, like lengthening crosswalk times and adding “no turn on red” signs, can be done fairly quickly.
